SNL

Sure, Stranger Things parodies have more or less run their course by summer’s end, but we can’t fault SNL for having waited to get in on the Upside Down. So it is, that Lin-Manuel Miranda takes us into Stranger Things Season 2 by introducing us to Lucas’ family.

These days, it'd take at least two years to watch only only one season's worth of #PeakTV, a quarter of which won't even be around a second year. You’d need some sort of absurd television guidance periodical to navigate it all, but because we love you' we've put together an in-depth look at 30 major must-see premieres kicking off as early as August 31.

Come, wrap some barbed wire around your bats and grab a coffee in Stars Hollow, as we descend into the madness that is Fall TV 2016!

SNL sailed from the 40th anniversary into Season 41 rather smoothly, though the waters roughened in recent weeks with the departures of Taran Killam, Jay Pharoah and Jon Rudnitsky. Thankfully, it’s clear skies ahead for Season 42, as the rest of the beloved cast will be staying aboard. Sailing metaphors!

And the SNL changes keep rolling ahead of Season 42. Just days after losing cast favorites Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah (and Jon Rudnitsky, sorry) from the series, SNL has elected two new head writers to take the reigns before the fall season.

SNL is built for a bit of turnover here and there, but that doesn’t remove the sting from losing some of its best not-ready-for-primetime-players. To wit, Season 42 has some surprising departures, including series veterans Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah.

The race for the White House is in the final stretch. The candidates are taking advantage of anything they can, and comedians are doing the same thing. This race is full of material for some great bits.

The Larry David-Bernie Sanders connection is one of them. Maybe you've seen SNL with Larry David as Bernie Sanders. It's way too funny, and now, has been taken to a new level. The Seinfeld creator and the Democratic candidate seem one in the same, which makes this incredible Seinfeld mash-up all the more perfect.

It’s a testament to the staying power of certain public figures that they’ve been played by more than one SNL cast member over the years. People like Hillary Clinton, the former First Lady turned former Senator turned former Secretary of State turned current Democratic Presidential frontrunner, linger on long past Saturday Night Live cast rotations. So what is the show to do when one of its guest hosts used to play a vital and very much in the public eye politician back in the day? Put her on stage with the current version, of course.

SNL commercial parodies are at their best when they’re at their most scathing. The fake ad for a fictional dating app called Settl may not be as dark as that vicious, pro-gun parody from a while back, but it’s a different brand of cynical: Here is the app for people who are tired of trying to find the right person and just want to settle down with, well, any person.

The summer of 2015 has afforded far too many absurd and newsworthy sagas for SNL to sit out, and Season 41 is already exploding off the bench. Not only will Miley Cyrus host the October premiere, but SNL will follow up with Amy Schumer, and a momentous return for alumni Tracy Morgan.

At some point in the SNL writer’s room, everyone must have realized that guest host Taraji P. Henson plays a monstrous character named Cookie on the smash hit Empire and, a few Cookie Monster jokes later, they were scrambling to call the producers of Sesame Street. Yes, SNL put Henson’s Cookie on the world’s most famous children’s program and the results are kind of spectacular.

Since The Walking Dead just ended its fifth season and it’s still one of the biggest shows in the history of television, it makes sense that SNL would pause to talk about it. After all, what good is the “Weekend Update” segment if the anchors don’t occasionally stop to talk about what’s big in popular culture? And what good is SNL if it can’t get one of the most popular actors from The Walking Dead to stop by for a minute-long cameo?

Most of the time, the SNL opening monologue is a formality and a tradition, a road bump on the way to the actual good parts of an episode. It feels like something the guest host does because he has to, not because anyone on the writing staff actually had a good idea. And that’s why last night’s monologue was such a joyous surprise: it was not only the best monologue of the season, but the best sketch of the whole night.

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